Maravi

There are hooligans in ZANU-PF, says Mugabe

There are hooligans in ZANU-PF, says Mugabe
By Kingsley Kaswende in Harare, Zimbabwe
Sat 12 Dec. 2009, 04:01 CAT

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has said there are hooligans in ZANU-PF who are bent on destroying the party by splitting it into factions.

President Mugabe on Thursday afternoon spoke hard on the divisions that are threatening to cause cracks in the party, which have been revealed more at the on-going party congress.

“Why not get together and know that this is about ZANU-PF being one? The people do not belong to anyone. You are not Mugabe or Vice President Mujuru or John Nkomo members, but members of the party, a people’s party,” he said while opening the meeting of the Central Committee.

“Youths have been used to support individuals. This is not ZANU-PF. There are hooligans in the party.”

President Mugabe said the party was now losing focus on fighting neo-colonialism by being divided.

"We have an enemy to fight, an enemy with a great force behind it, with the support of the British," he said.

"When we hear of factionalism continuing in some provinces, one wonders if the principles of unity sunk not only in our minds, but also in our hearts. What is lost is the focus of the struggle. It is no longer a fight against the enemy, the opposition and neo-colonialism. Instead of organising against the opposition, we are sweating for support, not for the party but for oneself," he said.

He blasted the outgoing Central Committee members for the party’s poor performance in last year’s election in which ZANU-PF lost total control after 28 years in power.

This led to the formation of the inclusive government with ZANU-PF in February this year.
President Mugabe said the outgoing Central Committee members should accept that they reigned over a period when the party performed badly in elections.

"We should be able to say we are the Central Committee which organised elections last year and yielded this inclusive government. We are the Central Committee that campaigned during the elections. We should be able to admit that the election produced a result that left a huge dent on the party. We are responsible for the poor performance in the election last year," he said.

He said the party had learnt a lesson in last year’s election and would use that lesson to its advantage in future elections.

President Mugabe is today expected to announce the names of the ZANU-PF office holders that will have been confirmed by the congress.
President Mugabe, his two deputies Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo, and national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo are set to lead the party over the next five years.

Even more interestingly, controversial Tsholotsho North independent legislator and ZANU-PF prodigal son, Prof Jonathan Moyo is expected to bounce back into the party's central committee.

Prof Moyo will be appointed into the central committee together with party loyalists from the province such as John Nkomo, Obert Mpofu and Matebeleland North governor Sithokozile Mathuthu.

He was last month nominated into the 245-member ZANU-PF central committee, the party's main policy-making body, by his Matebeleland North Province after he rejoined the party in October.

Prof Moyo, the only independent member in the 210-strong Parliament, is widely recognised as an architect of the harsh media laws that saw the closure of privately-owned newspapers and caused the arrests of several journalists.

He was dropped from the central committee and the politburo at the 2004 ZANU-PF congress after he infuriated President Mugabe when he allegedly masterminded the infamous Tsholotsho meeting in 2004 that sought to re-arrange the ZANU-PF presidium.

He was subsequently expelled as a cabinet minister and from ZANU-PF in February 2005 after he stood for parliamentary elections as an independent candidate, defying a party decision to reserve the Tsholotsho seat for a female candidate, Musa Mathema.

He had remained an independent member of parliament until October when he applied to rejoin the party.

Analysts say President Mugabe is keen to re-deploy Prof Moyo to the party's propaganda machinery, which has seemingly faltered under the control of his successors Paul Mangwana, the late Tichaona Jokonya, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu and the incumbent Webster Shamu.

Labels: MUGABE, ZANU-PF

posted by MrK @ 5:45 AM